HC Deb 27 July 1840 vol 55 cc1027-8

On the vote of 2.000l. for additional seamen,

Mr. Hume

had objected to the additional number of men to be provided by this vote, and he now protested against it. If any one would read the papers laid on the table of the House, they would see that Colonel Campbell had distinctly guaranteed to Mehemet Ali the districts which he governed, and yet these seamen were now employed because the noble Lord wished to alter that engagement. He would not divide the House upon it, but he should say "no" to the resolution.

Viscount Palmerston

would not go into any difference of opinion between himself and his hon. Friend; he would only state one fact. His hon. Friend said, that the papers laid upon the table of the House proved that the English Government had pledged itself to Mehemet Ali to support him in the occupation of the districts committed to his government. He (Viscount Palmerston) wished that his hon. Friend would look at the papers again, because he was satisfied that no engagement whatever of that kind had been made, and that the English Government were not parties to any arrangement with regard to a guarantee either one way or the other.

Mr. Hume

had not brought down Colonel Campbell's despatch with him, but it was clear there was in it an assurance of the British Government to Mehemet Ali, after the battle of Koniah, that the British Government would support him in retaining possession of the territories, if he would not declare his independence of the Turkish empire. It was evident that the noble Lord had mistaken the purport of his own instructions, and before the House separated, he would bring the noble Lord's letters to the House, and read them.

Resolution agreed to.